Rest of the Week

Wednesday

Wednesday was my first day of Practicum. I'm in a middle school (and sort of elementary school), doing school social work. For second year clinical students, we have to do 24 hours of supervised Practicum per week for 30 weeks (720 hours total). I'll be doing group therapy with emotionally disturbed kids, those whose mental health impairs all ability to perform academically, and will do individual counseling with students who have SW on their IEP (that's my understanding anyway).

I was only there for 3 hours on Wednesday. And all I did was talk to my supervisor and go on a brief tour of the school. As soon as I got home, I went to bed. I woke up for 20 minutes, ate, and went back to sleep. I essentially slept from 5pm-6am. Then, I had to get up to go to class.

Thursday

Thursday is when I have all of my classes, 8am-6pm. Three classes, with about 90 minute break for lunch. Each class is about 2 hours and 40 minutes. I was super concerned about how I was going to do, because I hadn't gone that long since this thing happened. Ever. Especially having to concentrate and such. I was really slow and not engaging my first class. But hey, it was at 8am, so what's new. I got to rest a little bit at lunchtime, and then did better as the day went on. I wasn't great, I wasn't the regular "Ashley" in class. Luckily, one of my teachers, who is at the end of the day--I had him last year, all year long, so he definitely knows me. But my other two are new to me. And there are so many new people this year, so I'm all super bummed that the only "Ashley" these people know is the post concussion Ashley. 

But, after unloading and talking a little bit with that last teacher of the day, I was feeling better. That, and he let us out of class after only 1 1/2 hours, so it was super early. I was getting tired again, but my friends were being super, super nice and supportive. And I hadn't seen them in awhile, and one in particular, who lived near me. So we went out to dinner. At first, I was like..look, I'm not fun to be around, let's not. But she's super nice and said, "I've been having fun with you all day!" Towards the end of the meal, I got a lot better. She noticed a dramatic shift and said, "There's Ashley! She's coming back!" So that made me feel a little better. She still didn't trust my driving and my friends made a safety plan for me as far as driving and such and potential game plans that I could do and not over extend myself. 

As soon as I got home, which was around 6, the time I would have gotten home anyway, I went straight to bed. (I showered first, then went to bed). I slept, again, all the way through the night, until Friday morning. 

My speech was a little fumbly, especially as the day it went on, it got worse. 

So both Wednesday and Thursday night, I slept for like 12-13 hours. 

Friday

I had to be at school at 7:30am. I did great today. My speech was on par, I was coherent, I was present, I remembered things (like my new funky password!), I walked, I engaged. Today was awesome. Maybe it's because I got so much sleep the last few days. Maybe it's because the medicine is starting to get into full swing (the new one is supposed to help with concentration and mobility, basically, and it's decent dosage). 

At school, my first full day, was also great because of casual Friday. I always do better when I'm dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Preferably, soccer shorts and a shirt, but whatever, I'll take what I can get. But for reals. There were 48032984 meetings we had to go and some were impromptu and some were scheduled and some of the scheduled ones we couldn't make because of the impromptu meetings. We were all over the place. It was great, I loved it. I didn't understand what was happening most of the time, but I loved it. 

I got home and chatted with my roommate. And then I was in much need of a nap. I dozed for like an hour, and then felt rejuvenated. The rooms and I tried to decide what we want to do...and decide to hit up bingo night because the website says it's free. We call to get the deets, but the dude wasn't super helpful.

So we go and we're all excited...and we caused shenanigans within the first 20 seconds. We escorted ourselves out within the first 5 minutes and decided to not go there ever again. We accidentally stole someone's ink thing to mark bingo, someone's seat, and we had an old lady scold us and an old man. Then, it was explained that it costs money to play bingo. And it costs more money for a marker. Why can't I just use pennies? Okay, maybe it's like $5. No, a card and marker costs $19. But, that particular lady, and other people around, had like 7 bingo cards. What the filth. Anyways, we left. 

And decided to see Monster's University. So good. So inspirational! And then watched a TV episode. 

So, I've gone all day, been awake since 6:30am, working and out and about since 7:30am with the exception of my hour nap, and it's almost midnight. And I did super well all day. I'm tired now and ready for bed, but still. I made it two whole days in a row. And I had one perfect day--I went one whole day without too many symptoms. 

Now I have the whole weekend to rest. And it's a 3 day weekend. Things are hopefully looking up. Long, not so great, very symptomatic week. But today was pretty good.